828x Hybrid and Ultralite mk3 audio glitches and drop-outs

[echivers]

Hi all,
My first post!
I've been using my 828x and Ultralite Mk3 for years with no issues, but suddenly I'm getting problems where either the mac won't see the interface, or it will glitch intermittently and then drop all audio for a second or two (the DAW freezes too (in Ableton, Logic and Wavelab) before carrying on again. It's random - sometimes it'll be fine for an hour, then becomes unstable again. I've noticed that Chrome browser has started to have an effect - it definitely gets worse when open, but still glitches when Chrome is completely closed.

It seems to have started all of a sudden across both Ultralite and 828x, on both of my laptops, and my music colleague's set up. I'm guessing this can't be a coincidence and that Mac OS has done some kind of background update that has made the driver unstable.

This is using the USB port. I don't have an adapter to go from the USB 3 to FW or Thunderbolt, so I can't check that. Is it the end of the line for these? I realise they're not supported by MOTU anymore and the driver is pretty old now.

Anyone got a magic work-around to keep them going a bit longer?
Thanks!
Ed

[mikehalloran]

This appears to be the real problem:

(the DAW freezes too (in Ableton, Logic and Wavelab)

Something is conflicting with something else. Activity Monitor.app is going to be your friend. Keeo the window open. When something turns red, immediately double-click on it and keep going till it reveals a kext or other file at the root.

Are you running AutoTune or anything from Antares?

Do you have any Corel product installed except Toast?

The correct MOTU Audio Installer for macOS works. That both of your interfaces are suffering the same problem makes it unlikely to be a hardware issue unless your USB cables do not support USB 2.

Thunderbolt is simply plugging a TB1/2 cable the Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter and plugging that into either of your m21 Macs.

.

[echivers]

Hey Mike, thanks for your response. Yes it does appear to be an incompatibility somewhere...
I don't have Antares, or any Corel stuff... I have Sonox ListenHub which is a software console monitor section - that is a secondary audio driver, but it's only on one of my Macbooks, and both are suffering glitching.

I've checked USB cables to make sure they're USB 2.0 and tried swapping different cables, tried both going through USB hub and going direct, tried different USB C to USB A adapters... all to no avail.

It's bizzarre that both machines which completely different software installs and OS versions, and my colleague (who also has a completely different setup)all started getting this since around Christmas.

I have an Audient ID44 set-up at the studio which is rock solid, so I can only think it must be something to do with the driver, or the hardware units starting to fail at the same time, which is possible but seems unlikely.

I'll keep digging and testing to see if I can find any answers...

[mikehalloran]

Audent drivers can easily be the problem. Remove them and see what happens,